Jun
27
Your reporting & comments on 6/28 Public Hearing on City Budget
Filed Under City Budget, City Council Meetings | 3 Comments
8 p.m. Monday update: By now the hearing’s been held, and the staff report is up. If any of you happened to attend the meeting or watch on LosAlTV3, your reporting and comments would be appreciated.
3 p.m. update. Staff report link is now good–click here.
12:30 p.m., Monday, 6/28 update: Still no working link on the agenda to the staff report, unfortunately. Details below.
(6/27/2010, Los Alamitos, CA) The Los Alamitos City Council is holding a Special Meeting this Monday at 5:30 p.m. for the purposes of:
- Holding the required public hearing on the Annual Budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, apparently with a million dollar plus deficit (more on that later)
- Adopting the budget resolution.
- Adopting the city’s fiscal year appropriations limit in accordance with state law (the “Gann limit”).
Interestingly, the appropriations limit the city is set to adopt is almost 70% higher Read more
May
24
Monday afternoon update: This session is being televised live on LosAlTV3, and will probably be rebroadcast during the week. (May 24,2010, Los Alamitos) The City Council meets at 4 p.m. today to continue looking for ways to eliminate a projected budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year of over $300,000.
The Council and staff have been working for months to identify ways to reduce the deficit, which initially was expected to be larger. In the staff report prepared for the meeting, staff identified an additional Read more
May
3
Budget, Pool, Trash Contract on agendas for tonight’s 2 Los Al Council Meetings
Filed Under City Budget, City Council Meetings | 27 Comments
(5/3/2010)The Los Alamitos City Council has scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 tonight to review the city’s proposed 2010 – 2011 Fiscal Year Budget, with the city exploring options for dealing with looming deficits.
Then in their regular, 7 p.m. meeting our Council will address staff recommendations on the use of the funds generated from the Race on the Base, including covering the ongoing deficit in the Pool Fund, as well as recommendations to move forward with Consolidated Disposal for the Read more
Apr
5
Los Al Council to raise trash fees tonight?
Filed Under 2010 Issues, City Budget, City Council Meetings, Election Issues, George Briggeman | Leave a Comment
(Los Alamitos, 4/5/2010)If you live or work in Los Alamitos, the City Council could easily reduce your monthly trash bill for the next ten years.
They could just as easily increase your bill.
Whether your bill goes up or down will largely be determined by a Council vote tonight on the weighting of criteria for evaluating the seven proposals received for this decade’s Solid Waste Disposal Contract.
Unfortunately, as it now stands, the recommendations by the Council’s subcommittee of Mayor Poe and Mayor Pro Tem Stephens appear to Read more
Apr
4
Cost cutting & trash focus of 2 Los Al Council Meetings this Monday, 4/5
Filed Under City Budget, City Council Meetings | Leave a Comment
(Los Alamitos, 4/4/2010) Once again our City Council will have a 5:30 special meeting to focus on budget revisions prior to their Regular Meeting at 7 this Monday night.
The first meeting will again focus on staff proposals on how to make up a projected half million dollar deficit in the city’s 2009-2010 fiscal year budget. Staff documents (see below) reveal several interesting facts, including a projected INCREASE in REVENUE generated by the Recreation Department that would more than c0ver the projected deficit in this year’s 4th of July fireworks!
The most interesting item on the agenda for the 7 p.m. Regular Meeting (see below) is the surprising recommendation by the ad hoc committee made up of Mayor Poe and Mayor Pro Tem Stephens to weight cost competitiveness a mere Read more
Mar
15
Council stymied by budget challenges
Filed Under City Budget, City Council, Planning & Zoning | 2 Comments
(Los Alamitos, 3/15/2010, updated at 7:05 p.m.) The Los Alamitos City Council ran out of time when they met at 5:30 today for their annual mid-year budget review to consider additional budget cuts that would result in an “unprecedented” 2 year decline in General Fund Budget of over Read more
Jun
18
Los Al Council passes balanced budget for “dismal” 2009-2010
Filed Under City Budget, City Council, City Council Meetings | 1 Comment
(6/19/09, Los Alamitos) (updated Friday afternoon) The Los Alamitos City Council met at 3 p.m. today, Friday June 19th for a Special Meetingand unanimously passed what is described as a balanced budget for fiscal year 2009-2010 which begins in just 13 days.
Wish I could say the same for our state of California legislators.
How the budget was balanced
The plan offsets declines in revenue with a one-time transfer of $89,000 from the “garage fund” to the general fund, an 11 day furlough for City Union employees, additional cuts for a total of $800,00o in savings, and increased income from Verizon Wireless finally collecting the city’s Read more
May
2
Special Council Meeting @ 4 Monday on 2009-10 budget
Filed Under 2009 Issues, City Budget, City Council Meetings, Teamwork | 64 Comments
Will our Council ever get beyond the budget?
(Los Alamitos, 5/2/09, by Dave Emerson) Guess what?
The Los Alamitos City Council has another 2-3 hour Special Meeting scheduled at 4 before this Monday’s 7 p.m. regular meeting.
That’s actually down 33% from the three meetings our Mayor called two weekends ago, but I still don’t think anybody can complain about our Council not meeting enough.
What they do with all that time spent in meetings, however, is another matter. Read more
Feb
2
Your Thoughts & Comments on the 2/2 Council Meetings
Filed Under City Budget, City Council Meetings | 49 Comments
Constructive discussion is good.
(by Dave Emerson) We had a prior commitment tonight to take some good friends to the Ducks vs. Buffalo game, so I haven’t seen this afternoon or tonight’s Council meeting yet. But I’ll bet some of you have! In fact, according to the view of “One for Los Al” below, Troy Edgar and the majority are trying to “rewrite history.”
This is your chance to be the reporter and the commentator. After all, I can’t do this by myself. So click “more,” then give us your Read more
Feb
2
Where do you think our Council can save money?
Filed Under City Budget, City Council Meetings | 8 Comments
It's your money!
Monday afternoon update: The word from our city clerk is that the 4 p.m. workshop will be on LosAlTV. But there’s nothing like being there in person!
(by Dave Emerson) As reported in my prior post, the Los Alamitos City Council is meeting today in a workshop session on how to cut spending for the current fiscal year and next. With city staff projecting a $650,000 shortfall in income for the 7/1/08 – 6/30/09 fiscal year, this is a matter of some urgency.
We have a variety of readers on this community web site, and I’m wondering if you might have some insight into areas where significant savings could be realized. I know I’m opening the door to a number of jokes, and I’m all for constructive humor, but I’m mostly looking for serious ideas that would save serious money.
After all, if you live in Los Al, it’s your money!
Any ideas?
Please post your comments below. Read more
Jan
31
News Flash: Special Council Budget Session at 4 Monday!
Filed Under City Budget, City Council Meetings | 1 Comment
Is the J.F.T.B. Pool ever going to break even?
Monday afternoon update: The word from our city clerk is that the 4 p.m. workshop will be on LosAlTV. But there’s nothing like being there in person!
(by Dave Emerson) Turns out our City Council is being more proactive this Monday than I originally thought.
A special budget workshop session is set for 4:00 Monday afternoon, 2/2/09, to discuss projected shortfalls and proposed cuts for the current Fiscal Year, which runs from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. Initial budget planning for Fiscal Year 2009/10 will also be discussed.
Staff now anticipates a decrease of $653,730 in revenue for the current fiscal year (7/1/08 – 6/30/09) and is proposing cuts totaling Read more
